Top 10 ed-tech stories of 2013, No. 10: Digital textbooks

From staff reports

December 18th, 2013

“Flipped” and adaptive learning programs gained traction on campus. A high-profile internet hoax involving a college athlete propelled the term “catfishing” into the public consciousness. MOOCs hit some key stumbling blocks, while the notion of a college degree became more fluid.

These were some of the key ed-tech developments affecting colleges and universities in the past year—and we’ve got a full recap for you right here.

In this special all-digital publication, the editors of eCampus News highlight what we think are the 10 most significant higher-education technology stories of 2013.

To learn how these stories have made an impact on colleges and universities this year—and how they’ll continue to shape higher education in 2014 and beyond—read on.

At the beginning of the year, Pearson said it was buying a 5-percent stake in Barnes & Noble’s Nook eReader as technology companies seek new inroads into the potentially lucrative digital textbook market.

In August, Google announced that its Google Play digital media store would offer digital textbooks from some of education’s best-known publishers, including Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Macmillan.

And Boundless Learning, which uses a process called “alignment” to pull together open content to create a free, digital version of an existing textbook, has expanded its mobile presence by launching premium textbook options with a variety of new features.

These are some of the many developments in the past year that have expanded the textbook options available to students.